The Newspaper Club makes me giddy (and not just because the name reminds me of Press Gang). They’re trying to make producing a basic newspaper so easy that anybody can do it. With support from Channel 4 and the BBC, the Club has already published and distributed a nice-looking paper (pdf). Promising. [via]
Tim Burrowes utterly demolishes News Ltd’s anti-blog nonsense — then gives ‘em another kick for good measure.
I was a child that was regularly imprisoned in a car with heavy smokers. My parents both smoked heavily when I was a kid. Now has it done me any harm? Well, yes, you be the judge, you be the judge.
Tony Abbott inadvertently makes the case for punishing parents who force their children to smoke.
Robert Bevan writes in today’s Fin (p 50) about the (Un)loved Modern conference in Sydney next week, which will address “the care and protection of the undervalued architectural heritage of the 1950s to 1970s modernism”:
They represent architecture’s mid-life crisis — too young to be regarded as wise and venerable but old enough to have lost their gloss. [...] ¶ In Sydney, a proposed remodelling of the Bathurst Street headquarters of the Water Board will, in a telling episode of period favouritism, see its art deco building retained but its brutalost wing torn down. … NSW has demolished six winners of the Sulman Award for public architecture and others have an uncertain future.
This short-sightedness is a real tragedy. Hopefully the conference will help protect these buildings from greedy developers in future.
In a previous life I spent a great many hours working a riso, and while my work was better than the Liberal Party’s material, I wish it was half as good as the posters being produced by Sydney’s Rizzeria. They have behind-the-scenes photos, too.
If you’re a fan of The Wire (and if you’ve seen it, you’re a fan), you’ll be interested in the latest issue of darkmatter. You’ll need to cut through the needlessly verbose language, but it looks like there are some interesting ideas there. For instance, this piece on “white negroes” makes me want to revisit the Sobotkas; I’m also interested to read about the show’s alleged antisemitism given David Simon’s own Jewish background. Plenty to sink your teeth into. [via]
There was controversy aplenty at the start of the Collingwood-Fremantle clash on Saturday when it became apparent that nobody had a coin to toss to decide which ends the teams would kick to. … [Q]uick-thinking Collingwood captain Nick Maxwell came up with a suggestion, a game of “Rock, Paper, Scissors”… But opposing captain Matthew Pavlich must have suspected a rat and he declined to partake. Pavlich then decided enough was enough and Fremantle would kick to the Punt Road end. Unperturbed by his bumptiousness, Maxwell was happy to kick to the other end and the matter was solved.
If I had a product to promote, I would hire Paul Tebbott and just let him loose. I mean, check out these posters! Stunning.
I’ve just realised that my ten votes for the Hottest 100 of All Time are songs that make me cry, remind me of winter, or both.
I have a post up on MetaFilter. It’s about celebrity deaths. Or not.
The Shared Worlds writing workshop has nominated its five “top real-life fantasy or science fiction cit[ies]” — places that are real, but have a “surreal, alien and beautifully strange” aspect. (I love Ursula K LeGuin’s description of Venice.) ¶ Meanwhile, WebUrbanist has a post about twelve real-life locations used in sci-fi and fantasy films. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House, featured in Blade Runner, could be yours for a cool US$15 million. [via, via, via]
Voting for the Hottest 100 of All Time closes on Sunday. If you need inspiration, JJJ has posted top tens from a whole range of artists. The station’s music director, Richard Kingsmill, blogged his personal hundred, which have been collected on YouTube for your convenience.
I’m linking to this story about allegedly stoned wallabies allegedly making crop circles because the readers’ comments are hilarious. Also, because it provides the weak excuse I need to link to this video of stoned cats in a catnip patch.
The London Underground is encouraging drivers to read to passengers from a book of quotations:
Any person who never made a mistake, never tried anything new. Have a good one, cheerio.
I like it when train drivers make unofficial announcements — maybe a joke, or a reminder to carry an umbrella, or just a good-day wish. This is a great idea.
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The Avett Brothers — I and Love and You — I and Love and You
See also this NPR Tiny Desk Concert for three more songs, and this NonCOMMvention set for eight others. [via]
I’m really, really worried they’re going to screw up the film series of Marsden’s Tomorrow novels. (Similar to Twilight?! Shoot me now.) [via]
Victoria’s solarium industry is on the brink of collapse, with increased skin cancer fears and a crackdown on rogue operators sparking a 45 per cent drop in the number of tanning salons. [...] ¶ Owners say customers started abandoning tanning salons following the public cancer battle of 26-year-old Clare Oliver, who died in September 2007 from melanoma she and her oncology team linked to solarium use. [...] ¶ The industry is in such a state of crisis that its peak body, the Australian Tanning Association, has disbanded after being forced to retract claims that solariums were safe following legal action brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
45 per cent down, 55 per cent to go.
John Hodgman explains that Obama is no mere nerd: Part 1, Part 2. [via]
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MeFi — Who Hit John? — Heirloom — Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifters